With the major season officially over for 2010, we decide whether or not the US PGA Championship lived up to expectation. Did it produce a worthy winner? Was there enough final day drama? And was the bunkering beautiful or bonkers?
Martin Kaymer: A+
The German couldn’t have appeared more at peace ahead of the final round, an aura he attributed to ‘a little bath’ and a lengthy night’s sleep. His almost flawless final round of two-under-par consisted of three birdies, 14 pars and just a single bogey, keeping his nose in front as soon as Watney made his double bogey at the first. Read more…
With only a month to go until the nine automatic positions for the Ryder Cup are decided, competition is really hotting up.
To dispel any confusion over the way things are as far as European Team selection is concerned, here is a breakdown of the situation right now.
After the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles from August 26-29, the four top-ranked players in the World Points List and the leading five players from the European Points List (not already selected in the world list) will make up the nine.
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With the Old Lady dusting off her shoulders after another memorable tournament at St Andrews, we look at the winners and losers of the 150th anniversary Open Championship.
Louis Oosthuisen: A+
After Thursday’s opening round 65, everyone waited for the South African to drop away, assuming his first round fireworks were more fluke than flair. However, as stubborn as the Old Course itself, the South African refused to be downtrodden by his doubters, instead biting back with three sub-par rounds to leave his challengers in the shade. His Open record thus far might have comprised of three missed cuts, but this former Ernie Els Foundation player proved that when he does make it past halfway, he does so in style. This may have been the year of the World Cup in his homeland, but victory at the home of golf sees that and raises it one Claret Jug.
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Exactly a year after declaring she wanted to ‘do an Annika’ by becoming the longest-running ladies world No.1, Cristie Kerr took her most decisive step yet toward fulfilling her goal – and she did it in Sorenstam-esque record-breaking style.
A 12-stroke victory in the LPGA Championship at Locust Hill Country Club in New York with a record-breaking 19-under-par total earned Kerr the world No.1 spot she has craved since joining the LPGA in 1997.
And not only that, but she became the first American woman to do so – proving, perhaps, that the US aren’t quite ready to relinquish their tour to the invasion of Asian players with whom it has been bombarded with over the last five years.
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The dust is settling on the second major of 2010. What better time, then, to reflect those who shined and those who ‘must try harder’?
Graeme McDowell: A+
And to think everyone thought that Rory McIlroy was Northern Ireland’s best chance of a major winner. G-Mac played solid golf from start to finish at Pebble Beach and, whilst all around him were losing their heads in the final round, he just about kept his to emerge a deserved winner. With all the froth generated over the past few years by the likes of McIlroy, Lee Westood, Ian Poulter and Paul Casey, McDowell has flown on the edge of the British golf’s press radar. He’ll need to get used to that changing from here on in. Read more…
Four years ago, when Donald Trump landed in Scotland to announce plans for a new golf development in Aberdeenshire, people dismissed his claim that it would be the “greatest course the world has ever seen” as the type of brash hyperbole that characterises somebody worth upwards of $1billion.
But there’s a reason people like Trump are billionaires – a proven track record of delivering on their word.
Having secured a world exclusive interview with the man himself (published in issue 98 of bunkered), I was privileged to be invited to Menie for a reception hosted by Trump, his son and business associates as they checked in on the progress being made to the course.
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